By IANS,
New Delhi : Human Resource Development Minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said Friday that the central government had no powers to intervene in the problems arising out of land acquisition in Greater Noida, but it was up to the Uttar Pradesh government to come up with a “fair” solution.
“Land is a state subject. We have no jurisdiction over that. It is obviously a problem and in fact if you look at scams across the country, most of them are centred around land and wealth around land,” Sibal told reporters at a press conference here.
Builders and home buyers were hit hard by a Supreme Court order earlier this month, quashing the acquisition of 156 hectares of land in the Shahberi village.
Farmers alleged that the land was acquired by Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) in the garb of using it for industrialisation but was the sold to developers at exorbitant rates.
In another case involving land in the Greater Noida region, the Allahabad High Court sided with farmers, quashing land acquisition of 598 hectares in Patwari village.
“This is a result because land was allotted as the High Court says without reference to rules, procedure, any law. This is the consequence and people have to suffer…so it is up to the government of UP to evolve a solution which in the circumstances is fair, just and equitable,” said Sibal.
“We can deal with corruption as a central subject but we can’t deal with the issue of land. We can deal with the corruption that arises out of dealing with land, but we cannot deal with re-distribution of land.”